Next, Niman and the others worked together in full cooperation, spending a full two hours before finally taking down the Great Dao True Beast.
The entire process was purely a slow grind of its health bar—resting for twenty-nine seconds and dealing furious damage for a minute, repeating the cycle until the Great Dao True Beast's health bar was completely emptied.
Having finished off one Great Dao True Beast, everyone sat down together to rest.
Half an hour later, Yu Xian smiled and said, "Get ready, everyone. Here comes the second one."
Though exhausted, everyone pushed themselves up to prepare. Once the Astral Black Tortoise caught the second Great Dao True Beast, they launched into a new round of attacks.
Yu Xian wasn't surprised by this. After all, none of his friends were the ungrateful sort who took generosity for granted while feigning modesty.
Right now, they were indeed lagging behind him for various reasons, but none of them truly intended to rely on him forever. They all wanted to become stronger, and they all wanted to be useful.
After another two hours, the Great Dao True Beast dissolved into white light amid helpless rage.
Zhang Shou collapsed straight onto his butt, completely drained of strength. Gong Qian also plopped down awkwardly, pulling water from her backpack and gulping it down thirstily. Stripped of any pretense of dignity, the entire group rested wherever they were.
"It's hard to believe such a powerful monster has become nothing more than a toy in Salty Fish's hands," Zhang Shou gasped after catching his breath, unable to resist venting.
Niman was also somewhat disheveled, though she was still in the best shape among them. She smiled and said, "Actually, it's not just a matter of your own ability. The Great Dao True Beasts that Salty Fish caught are mostly level forty to fifty, while your levels are far too low. That's why fighting them feels exceptionally difficult."
"What about fighting ones at our own level?" Shui Yuetian asked.
Jin Sheng wiped away his sweat and joked dryly, "Still exceptionally difficult."
"Yeah. If the Astral Black Tortoise hadn't pinned the Great Dao True Beast down, all of us charging in together would probably just be serving ourselves up on a platter," Cheng Pi nodded in agreement.
Yu Xian sat in his chair and smiled leisurely. "Later on, I'll get some character enhancement stones, class enhancement stones, and skill enhancement stones. You'll grow stronger very quickly. And once the event ends, I'll trade for some Talent Trait Awakening Stones so all of you can awaken talent traits."
"There's no need to waste resources on me. Doesn't the Fish God have a legion? I can just work behind the scenes," Shui Yuetian said.
Yu Xian laughed and replied, "These few resources mean next to nothing to me, but they're vital for you and crucial to your growth. We entered this place together, and our goal is for all of us to leave together as Mighty Ones!"
"Salty Fish is right. The fact that he chose to invite everyone here means you're the people he trusts most. We're a team. If you feel like you're holding things back right now, then make good use of the resources Yu Xian gives you, catch up as best you can, and grow until you can lend a hand to everyone!" Niman said with a soft smile.
Gong Qian, sitting next to Shui Yuetian, smiled. "Don't stress over it. We've long gotten used to Salty Fish suddenly soaring off into the distance where we can't catch him. We'll just take our time catching up."
Back on Earth, Yu Xian had been even weaker than her at the beginning, but in the blink of an eye, he had grown strong beyond her wildest imagination. She had wanted to catch up, yet she couldn't even catch a glimpse of his back because he grew stronger far too quickly.
She had thought that after entering the Zhen Realm, everyone would share the same starting point and struggle under the exact same rules, so the gap wouldn't widen too much. Who would have guessed the Zhen Realm was even harsher? Yu Xian had still risen meteorically, leaving everyone in the dust once more, still far beyond sight.
Everyone rested for an hour, eating something along the way to recover their stamina.
Then, they went back to grinding Great Dao True Beasts.
Yu Xian wasn't actually slacking off either. With everyone working so hard, he felt embarrassed to just lie flat the entire time, so he reclined halfway, activating Chaos Descent every now and then.
During this time, he truly did summon several powerful beasts.
For instance, the [Thunderstorm Cloud Whale], the [Chaos Star], the [Strong Magnetic Ankylosaur], and the [Chaos Taotie].
That Thunderstorm Cloud Whale was composed entirely of storm clouds, its body even more colossal than the Astral Black Tortoise. Being an atmospheric lifeform, wherever it appeared, it would trigger thunderstorms, gales, and massive floods.
Yu Xian dispatched it without hesitation, firmly resolving never to let it appear anywhere near him unless absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, the [Chaos Star] was a literal sphere whose interior was a swath of primordial chaos. Atmosphere, land, and vast quantities of liquids, crystals, and plasma churned at high speeds like a meat grinder; any matter falling inside would be shredded into subatomic particles.
In reality, the Chaos Star's true body was hidden at its core. Driven by curiosity, Yu Xian ordered it to come out, only to discover that the Chaos Star could open like a clamshell to reveal its true form.
The thing resembled a petite, adorable little girl.
Yet, adorable as it was, it was absurdly massive. Its true body stood over two thousand meters tall, and what was worse, it was plump and squishy. From afar, it looked cute; up close, it was terrifying.
Yu Xian had actually considered keeping the Chaos Star by his side—after all, cuteness was justice.
The problem was that the Chaos Star was simply too huge. Left with no choice, Yu Xian could only send it off to support Xielina, planning to look for a skill later that might shrink it down.
The [Strong Magnetic Ankylosaur], Yu Xian kept directly.
That was because the Strong Magnetic Ankylosaur wasn't very big, measuring only a little over three meters, clad entirely in heavy armor forged of metal.
It was exceptionally suited to be a mount, as its ability was manipulating magnetic fields—ultra-strong magnetic fields powerful enough to rip electrons apart and disintegrate matter.
So despite its compact size, it was actually a secret realm boss monster—and an off-the-charts powerful boss monster at that.
To accommodate the Strong Magnetic Ankylosaur, Yu Xian specifically ordered the Astral Black Tortoise to create another platform next to the villa platform, designated for his Mount No. 2, Mount No. 3, and Mount No. 4.
In simple terms, one for the ground, one for the sky, and one for the water.
The Strong Magnetic Ankylosaur was the ground runner—though in reality, it could fly too. By manipulating magnetic fields, it flew both swiftly and steadily; even when traveling on the ground, it didn't actually run, but hovered just above the terrain.
As for the final [Chaos Taotie], it was a super boss monster among Chaos-attribute creatures. If a Chaos Evil God evolved along its standard progression, its next stage would be a Chaos Taotie.
Simply put, the chain went: Chaos Evil Beast -> Chaos Evil God -> Chaos Taotie -> Chaos Demon God.
In contrast, God Devourer was now part of an entirely different evolutionary path.
Yu Xian was curious:
If God Devourer swallowed the Chaos Taotie as well, could it evolve one more time?
However, considering that the Chaos Taotie had been imprinted with a loyalty brand upon being summoned and was an existence of absolute loyalty to him, he felt bad doing such a thing.
After all, toward allies, one should strive to be as warm and gentle as a spring breeze.
Even if he couldn't treat everyone equally, he should still try his best to keep the bowl level and be fair.
Of course.
This applied only to intelligent beings.
Strictly speaking, summoned beasts could be divided into two categories. One consisted of mindless monsters acting purely on instinct—ghouls and zombies fell into this group, possessing neither brains nor self-awareness.
The other consisted of monsters with self-awareness, with Death Emperor being the prime example.
In Yu Xian's mind, the former were mere cannon fodder and expendables, whereas only the latter were regarded and treated as true living beings.
Chapter 517